Verliefd stel verbeeldt liefde en lust 1836 - 1876

Carel Christiaan Antony Last created this lithograph, a print called "Verliefd stel verbeeldt liefde en lust" - or "Loving couple depicts love and lust" - in the Netherlands in the early to mid-19th century. The image presents a moralising view on relationships: on the left side of the print we see the positive attributes of a loving relationship such as romance, family, and children. On the other side we see more negative depictions, such as gambling, drinking and death. The print uses common visual codes which would have been easily understood by audiences at the time. Consider, for example, the hourglass that is positioned between the two opposing sides which represents the fleeting nature of time. This would have been easily recognized by viewers as a symbol of morality. To understand prints such as this one, historians make use of a wide range of resources such as archival sources, newspapers and other printed ephemera. In this way we come to better understand how social norms were both enforced and challenged through visual culture.